newbie question

[wasted wanderer]

I am just starting to learn to program in VB.Net and have a question.
Can
a program designed in VB.Net be used by computers that do not have
VB.Net? If yes, how is it done? I'm not concerned with Mac's just PC's.
Thank you.

 

[rowe_newsgroups]

Having VB.Net is not required. If the computer has the proper version
of the .Net framework then it will run just fine. VS2005 uses .Net
framework 2.0 and VS2003 uses .Net framework 1.1

Does that answer your question?

Thanks,

Seth Rowe

 

[wasted wanderer]

Not exactly. I am trying to determine if I write a program in VB.Net
for use in the public domain can it be run on any PC? Do all PC's
utilize .Net framework?

 

[Miro]

Yes,

Anyone can run the exe.

You can get them to install the .Net framework, and even have your install
shield see if its installed, and either supply the .net framework on the
cd/install or make them download it from the microsoft website.

I beleive this is the link you are looking for,
(one of these ) - i am unsure of the .net version.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...CB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5&displaylang=en

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...E3-F589-4842-8157-034D1E7CF3A3&displaylang=en

Im a newbie too, and have not gotten to this stage, but thats how i read the
discussions before.

M.

 

[Fatbob]

Not exactly. I am trying to determine if I write a program in VB.Net
for use in the public domain can it be run on any PC? Do all PC's
utilize .Net framework?

No you cannot assume that all PC's have the .Net Framework. So if a PC has
no .Net Framework installed, your program will not run on that PC.

 

[Tom Leylan]

I'll take a shot at an explanation since you're getting "yes" and "no" as
answers.

The .Net framework is essentially a set of libraries which contain the core
routines your application makes use of. The framework is quite large so it
isn't linked into the application but rather the single copy on a user's
machine is used by all .Net programs (whether written in VB, C# or what have
you). If the PC in question does not have the .Net framework installed it
cannot execute a .Net program. The .Net framework is free to the end user
however so anybody can download and install it. This BTW works no
differently than say Java. You can write a Java applet, imbed it into a web
page but it will not run if the user has not installed Java.

 

[wanderer]

Tom,
Thanks for the explanation, it has made things much clearer. Would all
work if I included the .Net framework on the installation cd which
contained my program, this would alleviate the need to download it?

 

[rowe_newsgroups]

Here's a link to the bootstrapper tool that might help you out:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/tools/bootstrapper/

Thanks,

Seth Rowe

 

[Tom Leylan]

You might be able to arrange the inclusion of the .Net framework on an
installtion CD but clearly you would have to check with MS if that is
permitted. It is going to turn out in practice to not be such a good idea.
The majority of folks are likely to a) have the framework or b) have access
to the Internet in order to download the framework. Anything they download
would include the latest service packs which your CD version may not. Plus
the framework can be ordered on DVD from MS.

Seth Rowe has (in his reply) pointed you a "bootstrapper" but as I look at
it, it appears to be related to Visual Studio 2003 (and .Net 1.1.) Whether
there is something similar for Visual Studio 2005 (and .Net 2.0) I do not
know.

You can always keep the option in mind and adapt your distribution strategy
if you get customers calling asking "where do I find the .Net framework."
If that doesn't happen to often you'll save yourself a ton of trouble trying
to distribute everything on one CD. Remember they'll be calling you if the
..Net framework installation doesn't go right as well and you have nothing to
do with that.

Tom